When fledgling Irish rock group U2 played Grand Rapids' Fountain Street Church 30 years ago, a local promoter dubbed them “a no-name band,” paying the young musicians a whopping $2,000 for the show.

Some of those lucky to be among the 1,100 in the audience for the band's one and only Grand Rapids concert have told me they recall that humble 1981 debut as something special, something bigger than the moment, with this fiery, youthful band staking its claim for future glory.

Fast forward to Spartan Stadium on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing on Sunday night.

There, in eye-popping, ostentatious fashion, U2 displayed all of its musical glory and more for 65,000-plus fans, as it brought history's biggest touring rock production to Michigan in what's been labeled the most successful, highest-grossing tour ever.

Watching Bono and The Edge meandering across the sprawling, surrealistic, in-the-round stage known as The Claw, it was difficult to imagine this band was ever diminutive or unassuming enough to play an out-of-the-way venue in a mid-sized city.

“Big” has described these guys for so long that it only stands to reason they'd be right at home on the biggest stage in the universe under its biggest touring video screen – comfortable as anyone could be playing a packed stadium while traversing aircraft-carrier-sized runways and ramps.

U2: 4 OUT OF 4 STARS

Highlight No. 1: "Until the End of the World" and "I Will Follow" quickly reached a feverish pitch, with a hyper-animated performance by Bono.

Highlight No. 2: A tie between "Beautiful Day" and "Where the Streets Have No Name," which were loud and energetic enough to become real stadium-sized anthems

Time on stage: 40 minutes for Florence & The Machine; 2 hours, 16 minutes for U2

Fan comments:
"The show was incredible. That is how you do a rock concert: They played a great set, had good stage presence, fantastic sound and rocked the house. The stage and lights were mind-blowing, and the show was one I won't forget."
-- 11-year-old guitarist Joe "LittleEdge" Heemstra, of Grandville

"Great entrance with the spaceship theme. Loved the light show and video throughout the concert. Phenomenal stage and effects, magnificent out-of-this-world concert. Worth seeing again."
-- Jim DeLaFuente, of Rockford

"Breathtaking, wondrous, moving. These guys are still hungry and fit and passionate, and Bono is fearless. Aung San Suu Kyi segment (Burmese opposition politician featured in video) with 'Walk On' was very cool. ... They've taken the rock show experience to an incredible new level."
-- Charley Honey, Press religion columnist

Their music is big, too, boasting an anthemic quality that demands space and size, perfectly represented by songs such as “Until the End of the World,” “Beautiful Day,” “Vertigo” and “One,” which Bono, The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. played, not surprisingly, with a polished, end-of-tour tightness and energy.

Sunday's show was the 98th in the band's two-year global odyssey, with only 11 concerts left before the U2 360 tour winds up at the end of July.

It was tough not to be impressed. Just ask Detroit rocker Bob Seger, who stopped by the press box near the end of Sunday's show to rave about Bono and band, who he said he hadn't seen in concert since 1987.

It was the kind of singular musical event that drew not only diehard fans on an absolutely splendid summer evening, but the curious – those anxious to see something, well, this big and overpowering.

“I love U2, but it was more about the spectacle,” conceded Marcus Bradman of Grand Rapids, Citadel Broadcasting's director of promotions who came to the show with his wife, Kristi, and two friends.

“Who knows if you're ever going to see something like this again. It's part of history.”

It certainly was an important part of personal history for U2 devotees Matt and Emily Thuja of Battle Creek, who got married on Saturday and decided to delay their honeymoon trip to Florida by a day so they could attend Sunday's show: Emily garbed in her wedding dress and Matt in a tuxedo-styled T-shirt.

“My mom raised me well,” crowed the former Emily Myers, a 2001 graduate of Lowell High School, explaining her passion for U2.

She certainly wasn't alone. Michigan's U2 faithful, who had waited a year for this East Lansing concert after the tour was postponed due to Bono's back surgery, greeted band members like, well, Spartan heroes.

They even gave the opening act, England's Florence & The Machine a much-deserved, rousing ovation after the band's 40-minute set of dynamic, pop-styled rock, driven by Florence Welch's powerful voice. Wearing a flowing, fuschia-colored gown, Welch's flair
for the dramatic seemed perfectly suited as the opener for what was to come.

With David Bowie's "Space Oddity" blaring, the members of U2 instantly fired up the audience as they strode down the stairs from the back of Spartan Stadium and took the stage to launch into a riveting rendition of "Even Better Than the Real Thing" from 1991's "Achtung Baby" album.

Although he's 51, Bono showed no wear and tear from last year's physical setback, stalking the stage and its runways in his leather jeans like a rock star's rock star, spreading his gospel of peace and freedom, and even swinging from a lighted microphone during the encore.

He plays his over-the-top stage role as well as anyone in the rock biz ever has.

The Claw stage set-up filled up one end of Spartan Stadium, 167 feet high.

The evening was filled with stunning, big moments, like the segment in which the video screen stretched down to almost completely enclose the band on “Zooropa,” “City of Blinding Lights” and “Vertigo,” which featured projected, 40-foot tall images of the band members spinning above them.

Then there were the truly powerful versions of the iconic, message songs, “Pride (In the Name of Love)” and “One,” with 65,000 fans singing along on a picture-perfect summer evening.

Sure, there were times when the stage seemed so mammoth and the video-screen images so compelling, you'd almost lose track of Bono and The Edge, who sometimes performed as much as 150 feet apart on the outer, circular runway. But somehow, that just made this giant-sized affair seem intimate because it all took up so much space within the outdoor stadium.

As one stadium official put it, marveling at The Claw and the enthusiastic fans gathered around the stage, “Now that's not something you see every day.”